Sunil Chhetri retires: India's most-decorated footballer's records and historic feats

Sunil Chhetri called time on his two-decade long career on May 16, bringing down the curtains on an unparalleled performance in Indian football history.

The 39-year-old will play his last international game on June 06, which is a World Cup Qualifier against Kuwait, and will conclude his career as India's most-capped and top-scorer player in history.

Chhetri, who made his debut in 2005, has scored 94 goals for the country. So far, he has made 150 appearances for the Indian team.

He is also third in the list of goal scorers among active players behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and currently sits as the fourth in the all-time list of international goal-scorers as well.

A World Cup appearance evaded Chhetri in his 19-year-long career but he was part of the Indian team during 11 renowned title triumphs across tournaments.

With him, the Blue Tigers found success at the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, the Nehru Cup (2007, 2009, 2012), SAFF Championships (2011, 2015, 2021, 2023), Intercontinental Cup (2018, 2023) and the Tri-Nation Series (2023).

In club football, Chhetri has a number of historic feats to his name.

For starters, he is the only Indian to have played for clubs across three different continents, the Indian Super League, the Sporting CP in Portuguese football league (2012) and Kansas City Wizards (2010) in USA's Major League Soccer.

He is also the second-highest scorer in ISL history with 61 strikes.

Across ISL, Chhetri has represented Bengaluru FC and Mumbai FC, leading Bengaluru to the AFC Cup final in 2016 as well as won trophies like the I-League (2014 and 2016), ISL (2019), Super Cup (2018).

with PTI inputs